so lets hear it.  Whats the best and why.



went and played paintball for the first time today and had a blast but the rental guns sucked balls. Need to get something nice for next time.


 

go to www.pbnation.com go to the used gear section and get a 2010 or newer eclispe ego.  Quality marker, and the prices on used gear are dropping hard even on guns that originally sold for $1500++

68/4500 tank

dye rotor hopper.

I've been running a Tippman A-5 for years that I picked up used.
It had a few mods like a drop tank kit but in 5+ years I've only had to replace O-rings.
Not the best gun for speedball but it can hold its own.

drop forwards are terrible as they make your profile much larger.

+1 for for the Tipmans.
I really like my 98 Custom.

Tippman 98 is the Glock of paintball guns. A5 is Gen 4.

that GEO3 gun looks pretty sick.   Could buy another AR for that price though.  



What does 1500 dollars get you over say a 5-600 dollar gun?  I want this bitch to be accurate. I lost a lot of kills trying to walk in wild shots from a shitty rental today.



 

what the hell is speed ball and what is a drop tank.  



Somebody teach me about this stuff.



 

It explodes?



 

What is your price range?

www.pbnation.com is where you want to go. Make an account there.

WARNING: EXTREMELY LIBERAL WEBSITE

I ran a drop forward on my Ego8 and Geo+. had them custom made by Nummech. I like a drop forward.

As far as the best marker out there, I'd say an 08 or up Planet Eclipse Ego or a Planet Eclipse Geo. Either of these markers will just work. PE put a lot into them to make them as simple as they can be and still work well, so they are reliable as can be.

Tanks: Ninja 68ci/4500psi

Hopper: Dye Rotor. There is a video of a torture test done by Dye were they drop it in a bucket of water while turned on and it still works. They then use a blow torch on it to the point that they melt some of the buttens. It still works. I've seen drop tests from 3 story buildings onto concrete and it still works. Batteries will last about a year in them.

A drop forward puts the attachment of the tank 3 to 4 inches forward, and drops it by 2 inches. It basically puts the marker closer to you so it's smaller.

An 08 Ego or Geo can be had for $400 or less.

price range is 0-1500 dollars I just want to know at what dollar amount accuracy stops improving.  Not too concerned about much else other than speed and accuracy.



 

An 08 Ego or Geo ($400ish) will be just as fast and accurate as a brand new Ego or Geo3. ($1500) The new one may be a little more efficient, and quieter. You could then spend $150 on a Ninja tank, and $200 on a Dye Rotor. You'd be set.

what is a dye rotor?  



 

the thing that affect the accuracy is the consistancy of the paint you use.

consistent paint + dye ultra light barrel =


most of it comes down to preference if you want a single tube or a stacked tube gun.


Also drop forwards make it way harder to run and gun well and they make the gun taller thus making your profile bigger.


some of the main posters in the politics section of pbnation are super liberal but most on that forum aren't tree huggers.

don't buy a brand new marker 5-600 will get you an ultra high end marker that is a couple years old.

Speedball is playing on an open field with bunkers. You probably played out in the woods if you aren't aware of what it is. A lot of speedball fields have giant balloons you hide behind.

A drop forward relocates your tank down and forward, increasing height but decreasing length



The more expensive gun will only get you cool points on the field.

No paintball marker is more accurate than another.* Rifling does not work with paintballs, they don't hold a uniform shape, and they aren't consistent enough to be accurate.

*If your marker can't hold a consistent velocity, like it's always + or - 20 fps, you'll be all over the place, or if your paintballs weren't properly stored and some are swollen. Your best bet is to find a tight barrel (called underboring, about .678 or so) and a large barrel (.690, called overboring). You can squeeze paintballs through a smaller bore than the paintball is, and if all paintballs are being squeeze you can at least be semi-consistent.

Accuracy is in the barrel mostly. Whatever you get, get a stiffi barrel. It's 99 percent carbon fiber. With all star paintball its the most accurate barrel I had ever shot.

Here's how it has worked since 2003.

Gun comes out for $1200 at world cup (end of the year, october)

By June of the next year, it's being replaced soon, now it's worth $900

Stalls the next year around $750-800

Every. Single. Time. They never hold value, it's worse than cars could ever be. Buy a used one off of pbnation.com from someone with good feedback.

No they are nothing like Glocks and do not grenade themselves.

This is top of the line gear. Make sure you are going to play a lot before dropping the cash on this.

I play a lot and I only have an Ion.

wrong, accuracy is all about the paint. buy good apint and you will get good results.

Only if you don't know how to use it right. Pros all used drop forwards back in the day. They are no longer "cool" but still work if you like them. It's like if you like the MagPul UBR stock and I like the ACS stock. Both work perfectly, and we both have reasons we like each one, but you will never convince the other why yours is better.

And a Dye Rotor is a hopper. It feeds your paint.

Accuracy, like the other poster said is quality paint, and a good barrel. I prefer barrel kits. Any barrel kit will do. If you buy a planet eclipse marker, Planet Eclipse makes kits that match the color of your marker. Like a Shotgun choke, they are close to the same size, but are .005" different. but it makes a huge difference to have a good paint to barrel size match.

$1500 can set up your whole set up, and probably even a loaner or a back up. As previously stated, paintball guns aren't any more accurate than the others, and speeds will all be the same because most fields and tournaments have caps at 13 or 15 balls per second. Most paintball markers will get you to 30 BPS anyways, and past 18, you'll be hard pressed to know the difference (other than a quickly emptying pocketbook.)

As some perspective on how the current paintball marker marketplace is nowadays: Planet Eclipse, one of the big-guys for paintball equipment, had to discontinue their best selling marker, the Ego line, because their budget line, Eteks, were so damned close. There's a reason they never came out with an Ego 12.

Your most important piece of equipment is your mask - find somewhere to try them in the store, especially so if you have glasses.



It's one of the top-tier hoppers/loaders.

Accuracy is more of a paintball to barrel match equation than the actual marker shooting it.

A good regulator on a paintball marker will out put a consistent pressure of air to the paintball.

Now you need a good paint to barrel match.

You can buy a good barrel kit, a basic one from CP, DYE whoever will come with 3 backs and then a front. This would be a 2 piece barrel kit. You can also buy just single barrels sized in a certain diameter.

Google "how paintballs are made" there is a video on youtube, you will see its not the exact science reloading regular ammo is. Its a round ball made by the truck load. Some is better then others, thus why you will see the price change in a store. Typically that has to do with the fill. You want a thick fill so that players cant wipe the hit off. You want a brittle shell but not too brittle or it will break in your hopper or barrel.  Weather affects paint too, there are some paintballs that are good for winter and others for summer. It is really a giant pain in the butt.

Go to the Command Post up on Bell Rd in north phoenix and speak with Hadji "John". Ben at Pbwarehouse is another guy you could call in AZ.

There truthfully is not much difference between the newest latest greatest model of paintball marker and last years. However in paintball as mentioned above, prices drop off like crazy. Think TV's.

For a recreational player wanting to just have a good time I would look at a 07 or 08 ego, bob long intimidator or vice and a good barrel selection or kit. Before you play size your paint and rock and roll. Easy way to size paint is open the box you just bought and drop a hand full of balls though the barrels (or backs) you have. You dont want it to roll through fast as that has extra air space around it and will cause it to leave the barrel different each time. You want it to be tight but you should be able to blow it out. So tight but not too tight if that makes sense.  Once you have the paint sized to the proper barrel or back then have fun.

pbnation is a good resource for information, so is pbaz.com (local arizona paintball site).

You are lucky, because of weather Arizona and California are big into paintball with lots of fields and manufacturers/store and what have you.

top fo the line? where did i tell him to get a luxe?

the gun will be around 500, the tank can be had for less than 100, the hopper is what like 175?

he will need no after market parts to have a great marker that will preform just as well as anything else on the field.

Next most important thing is a good low profile yet comfortable mask, and a pack that releases pods quickly.


The field I play at is indoor and astro turf. use to be liek playing on fucking ice until i got some golf cleats...

There is good reason why no pro's use drop forwards, your profile is bigger and you can't aim as well. your arms should be somewhat extended not bunched up.

Just order a cheap spyder or spyder clone. along with a compressed air tank.  And an electric hopper.  Don't forget to get a good comfortable mask. Shouldn't be more than 300$ for the lot.  Enjoy and have fun and then figure out what you need/want.
 

I'd recommend starting out with a 68/4500 tank, a Smart Parts Ion from the used marker section, and an Empire Reloader B... no need for you to get fancy right off the bat.

I started with an A5, blew a bunch of money trying to make it work better, fixed shit, changed shit, etc. and gave up because in the end the electronic trigger pack sucked and made the gun malfunction all the time, even after I reset everything and went from there. Just keep in mind that mechanical markers like the Tippmanns were designed to work that way... electronics for them can be finicky and were definitely an afterthought.

When I stopped playing, I had a Planet Eclipse SL94 Ego with a 92/4500 carbon fiber tank and a Rotor hopper. That thing was FAST... and I mopped the floor with people with it.

Just FYI, the pricier paintball markers are similar to pricier firearms. Fit and finish is better, they are generally higher quality, faster, more efficient on air usage, and more "accurate" because they perform more consistently, plus some have some really nice perks. My SL94 Ego was basically a 2009-model Planet Eclipse Ego electronic marker with fancier electronics, interchangeable triggers, lighter weight (not that it mattered all that much), a nicer stock bolt and a nice barrel kit. It cost me about $700 when I bought it in 2011. One can find the higher-end guns used for good prices and they generally perform the same or better than the immediately following year's model of paintball marker, because paintball people are even bigger gear whores than gun people are and will literally dump their year-old gear to get the newest marker they can.

Edit: Spyder markers suck now, if you're gonna go that route get an Azodin marker- they're Spyder clones, but better.

as an fdt member you should know better, ions are pieces of shit.

For a newbie, it'd be a good chance to learn how the marker works... Ions may be low-end but they work, and the availability of spare parts is good. I just didn't want to be THAT GUY who advocated getting something ridiculously expensive for his first marker, though it is a buy once cry once deal.

Pro's no longer user them cause they aren't "cool". I have used one for years. If you knew how to use it, it actually works better. I aim just as well as anyone else. Anyone I play against can tell you that.

Just because you can't do it right with a drop, doesn't mean I can't.

Learn how to use one before knocking it, and you can't say you have learned, or you would be using one. It's all about ergonomics.

PEC Master.

You get very little return on your investment buying a $1500.00 pb marker.  If you want new look at something like an Axe, Reflex Rail, one of the mid range Planet Eclipse offerings, etc.  Used and the market is wide open.  Just realize that most paintballers are young and may not have cared for the equipment well.

Accuracy has everything to do with using good paint first.  Gun, barrel, air system upgrades aren't going to give you much if any accuracy improvements.

For 1K you can have a very nice, all new kit that will compete on any level.

And TechPB > PBNation

Speedball is a small staged area where teams are firing a ton of ammo very fast.
Most guns are electric most action is very quick.

Woodsball is pretty much anything you want to make it. Med/Large area in the outdoors.
Slower action at times less round count, further shots.

Both have perks but use very different gear if you’re serious with that style only.
Speedball has a fast game turnover so you will play more on a given day.
Woodsball has more thought involved with far more tactical maneuvering.
Both have their place and we have often play both styles in the same day.
Play a few rounds on a large field for a few hours then switch to small point-blank field at the end of the day to burn up paint and air.

Most of my crew play woods ball. We get together draw random teams out of a hat if the player all have similar experience.
One team walks into the woods, the opposing team gives em ten minutes then goes in after them. There are tons of various ways to play but it always seems to boil down to elimination anyway.
The tactics can be more realistic but the game time takes much longer.
If you’re playing woodsball a TIppman Custom 98 is not a bad way to go.
You can upgrade with dozens of various parts as you get the cash.
If you’re going to play speedball with experienced speedball player a Tipp 98 is borderline suicide unless the opponents are running similar gear.
At the end of the day tactics do come into play. Attitude is key. My kid sisters running basic guns have outplayed many grown men with thousand dollar gear kits in the woods.
Cover fire, Flanking, raw grit and determination will win the day.
A good fire team that shoots and moves while giving cover fire to each other can get by with very basic gear if the opposition is nothing but a bunch of guys who think their personal $$$ gear makes up for their lack of grit.

yeah and if he is willing to go for a used marker and tank he can get a very very nice set up for a lot less than a grand.

how many psp or nppl events have you entered?

You really can make any marker nice (relative term).

In another life I was co-owner of a paintball store and played on the national level (NPPL, USPL, PSP) and when I quit I was the coach of new PRO ranked NPPL team. Spent allot of time and more money then I care to admit in the paintball world.

Anyways, Spyder held a tournament one time that allowed pro players to play but you had to use Spyder equipment.

So me and a couple buddies took the Spyder VS2's and replaced the regulator,modified the trigger, changed the barrels, modified the bolts, changed the solenoids, modified the solenoid tubing and barbs, replaced the boards with intimidator boards and wooooolaah! We had intimidators in a Spyder shell.

Up arriving at the event we found out that we were not the only ones to do this. All of our buddies from D1, Semi Pro and Professional teams had the same cheater set ups so some extent.

So yes, you can buy a cheap marker and "tune" it run like something more expensive or you can just buy once and cry once.

PHOTO from Spyder Cup with modified $150 marker:

This is from 2007 when I was Ranked D1 fyi...

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk111/kodiak62/spydercup6_07hsp181.jpg

Get a used DM9, a  68/4500 tank, a rotor loader, and a critical trigger for the gun from PBnation for around $600 and you'll be set for a long time with a gun that's as good as anything new.

I've got an older gen Tippman A-5 with a response trigger off of ebay earlier this year. Didn't pay much for it, either.


It was pretty dirty and missing a couple of parts (IOW NOT as advertise), but it cleaned up real nice.  Shoots great.

I really like the ball feed mechanism.   It actually taps some of the air every shot to rotate gear to feed shots into the chamber.  Pretty slick idea, really.  Not like the older strictly gravity fed guns that you had to shake sometimes to get balls to feed and were always trying to feed multiple balls at once.

Of course, now I have no one to play with.  

3 PSP events actually (including PSP World Cup @ DisneyWorld), how bout you? never played NPPL. Once I played Scenario Paintball, I never really played Speedball anymore, it was kinda boring to me in comparison.

And, the pro's all used to use them, and they were such horrible shots weren't they. They couldn't aim or maneuver very well either when they used the drops on there markers for years could they? No wait, they did just fine with them.

They stopped using them because paintball guns got more efficient, and games don't last long in PSP or NPPL. So you no longer need a larger tank like you used to. Unless you play Scenario games like I do. Sometimes you can be in a game for 3 to 4 hours at a time. Main limitation to playing time in game is paint and air. That's why I use a 88ci/5000psi tank on my Geo. I can shoot almost a case of paint without having to refill. If you are playing for more than a few minutes at a time, drops make sense, if you are playing short Speedball games and that's it, you don't need one. Then again if you do both, it may still make sense for you.

When I first started in paintball we used HUGE razor drop forwards from Shocktech and or CP.

Tanks and tank regulators along with markers got allot more efficient, and as you mentioned the speedball game changed quite a bit.

only 2 psp events before i quit to save for college.

using a frop with a 114ci might not be a bad idea if you are a very small guy but for the average person, they could bennefit from using a reverse rail extension to lengthen thier gun.

speed ball games may for the most part be fast but i know some guys who will shoot 15 pods a game.


Scenario is ok

It's not for everyone but i think stock class is the most fun style of play.

btw when i first started i used a giant kapp drop forward, i played way better without it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tippmann-98-Custom-Pro-with-Upgrades-/221153961729?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337dcda701

Good set-up for the cash.
Should serve you great in the woods and ok on the field.

Even shorter on cash?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tippmann-98-Custom-Pro-Act-Paintball-Marker-with-14-Proto-Barrel-/251185339153?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7bd01b11

A good mask may factor in better than a good gun on some days.
This is a great buy on a great mask.
Mask

The drop tank decreases OL length which helps with (my) maneuverability. My personal style is moving quickly over sitting and snipe. Your style may be very different. I have buddies who have long sniper style rigs who don’t mind sitting in the woods game after game hoping for the random guy to come walking by. Me, If I have a good team I’m going to hunt you and I will be moving quickly. I don’t have or need a stock or optical sight. If I’m on a weak team I’ll place the younger kids in a close triangle where they can give each other cover fire. I stay flexible looking for a stray player or looking for an enemy  flank or their weak side where I might can flank. So again, I want a clear mask and a compact fast handling gun.
The key is; when your team comes under fire,  (we run teams of 8/10) point the gun and pull the stinking trigger. Look for chances to move up but not out of cover fire range… place suppressive fire on a target allowing me to move up. If I’m under fire or laying down fire I want to look over and see you doing something about it.  Watch your and my six because thats where my brothers want to be. If you do that you will be a valuable player. As time goes on and you get experience start looking for the risky moves like flanks but till then stick with a good player and wear out that trigger.

I use a Mini Invert and a Dangerous Power G4 and my daughter has a Tippman A5. I like them good guns.

Honestly, accuracy is determined by the user, the quality of paint, and the consistency of the regulator/airsource. In that order. I've been playing for close to a decade now and have owned dozens of markers over that time period and played with even more. To answer the question directly I'd say that accuracy, and for that matter speed, even out at about $250-400 for a new marker.

Do you have access to compressed air(3k or 4.5k psi?) or only co2? My answer hinges on that info.

This Is basically what I use. But I use a 4oz co2 tank instead of 12 grams. It's cheap, cheap to use, simple to clean, reliable, and high quality. It's accurate with the stock barrel, even more so with a decent barrel kit. It's also light even compared to modern equipment(due to the lack of hopper and tank). Just not fast, but meh, that's really over rated.

My best advice is to just talk to your fellow paintballers. It's usually a pretty good group of people. Ask to borrow their gun or shoot it. Find what "feels right" and go from there.  Refer back to the beginning of my post.

stock? optical sight? sniping?

sniper style? sorry but most paintball guns will shoot about the same distance unless you are shooting over 300 fps.

with a long low profile gun I can toss it from hand to hand and quickly aim.

this FTW  but with no stock and a 13ci hpa tank

Over my paintball tenure i had some disgustingly fast guns but the number of phantoms I had alone was over 8.

Im getting out of the hobby, I have a smart parts ion with upgrades, 3 bottles...etc. Its in the EE http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_7_141/1064018_.html&page=1